$50M LOTTO MAX WINNER FIGHTS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS

A $50m Canadian Lotto Max winner from the draw held on March 16 last year is fighting for the right to remain anonymous. The British Columbia Lottery Corp (BCLC) states winners must allow their name and photo to be published before collecting their prize.

Eager not to be identified the lucky Lotto Max winner is prepared to go to court to protect his anonymity. The BCLC have not commented on whether or not the mystery winner has decided to take this course of action.

The policy has been criticized in the past. Daniel Senger from Grand Forks won $5m playing the Canadian Lotto 6/49 and didn’t want his identity to be revealed. He feared it would result in a deluge of begging letters, but the BCLC told him their policy was included on the back of his winning Lotto 6/49 ticket.

Senger added that a reason why the BCLC don’t want winners to remain anonymous is because big wins result in increased lottery ticket sales. BCLC spokeswoman Laura Piva-Babcock said the policy “protects the integrity of gaming and lotteries by being open and transparent.”

Last week we reported on a couple who won $1m playing Lotto 6/49, but not everyone wants to see their identities published. This mystery winner claimed their prize just before the Lotto Max ticket was about to expire. However there is no time limit over verification of the win. There have been some cases in the past where anonymity has been granted, but Piva-Babcock said it’s “very, very rare” and would not explain the circumstances in which anonymity was allowed.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia said there have been complaints in the past about the right to anonymity, but couldn’t provide details. Loto-Quebec temporarily suspended their requirement for winners of amounts over $4m to be publicly identified after police foiled an extortion plot targeting a Montreal couple who won $27m, but has since reinstated the policy.

In the USA, six states allow winners to remain anonymous. In Europe, lotteries such as EuroMillions and the UK Lotto allow winners to remain anonymous if they so wish.

Whether you decide to reveal your identity or not, the most important is to play online with us at Lottery24.com to get a chance to win.